Loki's Rebellion
by LordTarran
Summary: After the end of the Brood Wars, the destruction of the UED, and the scattering of the remaining Terran and Protoss, one cerebrate plots Kerrigan's downfall, from beneath her nose.
1. Chapter 1

Kerrigan: Queen of Blades, master of all Zerg in the Koprulu Sector, and whatever other sectors she sent her deadly swarms into. Since her victories over the UED, The Dominion, The Rebellion, and both the High and Dark Templar, she was able to rule the Koprulu Sector without opposition. She had discovered the secrets that the Overmind had wished for, the ability to clone herself, and so was prepared for her possible death, and she made it clear to everyone she knew. Kerrigan feared no one, and rightly so. Her agents were everywhere, and she crushed threats before they realized they were threats. It was only her wished to remain amused that made her keep the Cerebrates, and the Terrans and the Protoss, around at all. But, she hadn't considered dissention in her own ranks.

No, she hadn't ever considered that a certain cerebrate would be working against her as best he could. She hadn't realized that when she created him after the death of the Overmind, that she hadn't remembered to include the gene in him for total obedience but instead gave him freedom and creativity. This cerebrate was slow to realizing his situation, but upon doing so, was in the position to finally bring Kerrigan down.

She had given him the greatest resources, the strongest breeds, the experimental ones too, and control over the research of new breeds. The Queen also made his brood black, a color of fear, of death, and of shadows. And she named his brood for the god of trickery and fire, from the long lost human myths of the Vikings. She did not see her own fall before her, as she instructed him to send agents into the Terran and Protoss realms and keep the Swarm informed. In that instant he began to plot her downfall and his rise, and she never saw it coming. Then again, I never gave myself away until it was far too late.

I am Karu, Cerebrate of the Loki Brood. It was I who rallied the Terran and the Protoss, and I would brought the cerebrates against our Queen. The following is the story of my rebellion. Loki's Rebellion.


	2. Chapter 2

"I apologize, my queen, for my lateness." I grumbled as I entered her throne room, representatives from the other broods already surrounding the Overmind's great success. I had encountered unexpected resistance on my entrance into Char's orbit. Some Terran forces in control of far too many Battle Cruisers for my liking had found their way in between myself and the orbiting platform in which my queen held court. They had been an annoyance, but more importantly a waste of good resources. Even with the new combination of volatile substances we used in our Scourges, and the simple maneuverability my mutalisks and devourers held on the BC's, I lost a good third of the space flight guard I had come with. My forces simply did not have size on my opponents.

"That is alright, Karu," Kerrigan smiled, "Take your seat by my side and we shall continue." Kerrigan, despite what the Overmind had done to her original human form, was quite lovely. She was still strong and tall, as she had been as the Ghost Operative Right Hand of Mengsk. Her once peach skin was now almost green, her once human eyes now yellow. Her hair, formerly long, kinky, and red, now chitinous spines. Chitinous armor covered her body alluringly, and I knew from experience that she could easily rid herself of it. But the most obvious sign of her Zerg blood were the great chitin wing structures on her back, which she used to easily shred opponents, as well as to gently touch her servants.

I walked around the edge of the living, breathing throne room, which long ago had been nothing more than a lowly drone. A grid projecting images of our sector of the galaxy dominated the center of the room, stand-ins for the giant brain like cerebrates the Overmind had made around it. I casually sat down in the seat made of bone next to Kerrigan's great throne, knowing that each of the other cerebrates looked at my formerly human body in envy, each one barely held in check by their own genetics. Had the Overmind not been very heavyhanded on obedience, I would have been destroyed long before.

It occurs to me that most of the humans reading this account do not understand what I am. I am like Kerrigan, and that traitor Samir Duran, in that I am a Zerg Infested Human. I, like both Kerrigan and Duran, was also a Ghost Operative before my transformation. I look mostly human, though my skin is sallow, and my eyes are yellow. I still wear ghost armor to formal occasions, as this particular event was, though it still bears the scars of from when Kerrigan freed me from it. I have arm blades, but these I can retract. I am a humanoid Cerebrate, I can control my brood, which is small compared to the others, through my psychic ability. Unlike the other Cerebrates, I can move and defend myself, and also unlike the others, I do not have any genes preventing me from striking against the others. Kerrigan trusted me, and I was willing to be subservient.

But, I digress.

This particular meeting was called to discuss strategy. It hadn't just been me who had a gripe about the ships of the Terran and Protoss.

"Kerrigan, all we ask is permission to explore farther out from Char," Spoke the familiar voice of Araq, leader of the Jormungand Brood. It came from the body of the purple-carapaced Hyrdralisk, standing in the position I held on the opposite side. It had been Araq that had protected Kerrigan during her transformation, and had acted as her hand during the Brood Wars. Her favorite besides me, she liked to tell me.

The Hydralisk, I realized, was the stronger version of the breed, the Hunter Killer. Cobralike in form, except for the spike like arms and spikes along its back, the piece looked more than capable of ripping my small body asunder.

"One moment, brothers, can someone tell me what you are proposing? We know this sector! Exploring out from Char will not yield anything unless you leave Koprulu!" I shouted.

"Not true, brother Karu." I shuddered beside myself. The eerie voice of Nargil, Cerebrate of the Fenris Brood, came from a green-carapaced Defiler, a constantly writhing earwig-like creature.

Despite being a Cerebrate, despite ordering for humans to be stripped of their humanity and turned into mindless walking bombs, I could not shake the dark, vile feeling that Defilers brought to me. As a human, their actions had scared me to the point of once running from the thick of combat. As a rule, Defilers were only born in my brood under the absolute most dire circumstances.

I sat up as I spoke to my fellow Cerebrates representative. "What are you suggesting brother Nargil?"

"Only what sits before our faces. The problem is that our flyer breeds cannot stand up to the air capabilities of our foes. We can adequately defend ourselves from the Terran and Protoss, of course, and through a use of greater resources can even conquer their fleets, but they will still defeat us over time because of their ability to produce capital ships. We need breeds of similar sizes, of similar firepower, and nothing in this sector, at least where we have battled our opponents, has given us this. I know where we could find such creatures, as do you Karu."

Kerrigan and the other cerebrates' representatives looked at me, as I realized what Nargil spoke of.

"You mean Aiur's Databases," I realized. "Are you out of skull!" I roared.

"I don't have one," Nargil shot back, though I ignored him.

"Of course we could conquer it again, but the Protoss will just throw us off again! Plus, something humanoid would have to go, something capable of looking into the…" It dawned on me what Nargil was suggesting. "So this is the new scheme to get me killed? Gonna give me damaged Scourge too?" I yelled, just a hint of my psychic power be thrown into my shout.

"I do not know what you speak of," Nargil said loftily. "Nor do any of your brothers here, I do not think."

The representatives of the other cerebrates nodded, except for Araq's Hydralisk, I met eyes with the creature, seeing the Cerebrate.

_Your suspicions are right, Karu,_ Araq's voice echoed alone into my head.

_They including you in their schemes? _I asked.

_Yes, they believe me loyal still more to the Overmind and his original dream that to the Swarm and to Kerrigan._ I sensed a smile from the leader of the Jormungand. _How ever so wrong they are. If you choose to indulge them though, I have a new experiment I would like you to test out while there._

_Much appreciated, brother. _I smiled externally.

"Karu, will you go?" Kerrigan had turned to me.

"Despite common sense, yes. If nothing else, there are new breed variants, especially of the Zergling, I would like to test on Aiur," I spoke defiantly towards my fellow cerebrates.

"Excellent," Kerrigan responded. "But there are things we must discuss before you leave. Things of importance far exceeding learning of new breeds."

I looked at her questioningly, her eyes and body language showing me that she was feeling more human than Zerg. I blushed despite myself and nodded.

"Meeting adjourned, Cerebrates. Karu, meet me after you take your midday meal."

I nodded, stood, and headed towards where my brood was laid during my visit to Char. There were several projects I wished to work on quickly before I became indisposed for the next few hours.


End file.
